I'm stumped about this fish...wanna have a go??

[gothicgirl]

zebrasomas flavescens (yellow tang)

It's had this forever, tough little guy to catch. Yellow tang but not so yellow anymore. Yellow around outer edge of fin but not else. No white spots or anything else. Blackened gills (all the time) It has had this forever...

Eating/swimming just fine, it's always been a little skittish. Other tangs/fish don't seem to be affected at all. My blue tang is a tad ragged but likes to rough against rock too much. I don't mean scratching just kind of aggressive hiding against rock.

HELP! So stumped!!

HAVE A LOOK AT THE SAD LITTLE GUY HERE <http://img200.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=016mvz.jpg>.

Thank you so, much!!

 

[jmicky41]

Doesn't look like a yellow tang at all. I think you have a chocolate tang, Acanthurus profyrus (spelling).

 

[Ohiomom]

first off..what size tank is this in..parameters? and NOT a yellow tang..

 

[livingcorals]

Looks like it has Fish diseases called velvet. As Ohiomom asked what's the Parameters?
There are a few things you can try, setup a (medic tank). You can treat with myrcene 1. Myrcene is good for the outside parasite. You don't see its gills inflamed do you?
Otherwise a few things you can try are, Raise water temperature
Dim lights for several days, Treat with copper sulphate for ten days (only if you do not have corals and inverts), Discontinue carbon filtration during treatment.

Because Velvet is highly contagious hard to say whats going on with your fish.


+3 not a yellow tang.

 

[Ohiomom]

Now see too me it looks like SEVERE amonia burn/septicimia..which I would mostly blame on water parameters..could also obviously have a few things going on.

 

[francis1123]

i don't see anything that looks like velvet. ammonia burn, or some other toxin seems more likely. if it's had it forever, possibly from collection.

 

[gothicgirl]

Wow. I feel silly, now. Of all the fish I've seen by now, how have I never seen a mimic tang?? Which is exactly what it is. (anyone else think that the species, the gills I mean, look like they have parasites in them. I know now it's just the coloration.)

Wow. Thank you so much. My ex LFS owner was an idiot, this isn't the first time we've found out he was full of it. He sold it as a juvenile as a 'Hawaiian Tang'. So I thought it was a yellow tang, just as he said, just from a different region so with slight differences from a regular zebrasomas flavescens. Then when it grew up, I thought it was sick because of the fading colors.
Anyone else fed up with LFS who only want to earn money and have no idea what their really selling??

 

[Ohiomom]

there is still a DEFINATE issue with all the red on it though..again what are your parameters and what size tank is it in..

 

[jmicky41]

Too me, it looks like the red marks are algae on the glass, not marks on the fish.